A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Civil disobedience against tar sands in Marshall, Michigan

The west side of the state also has their own set of activists against Tar Sands, and I'll post an entry about them later this afternoon or evening.

A couple of days ago, a protester engaged in some locally very visible civil disobedience by climbing into Enbridge's 6B pipeline as a new segment was being installed. At least six other protesters picketed in support. WOOD-TV reported the day-long demonstration with several reports. Here's the summary from WOOD-TV.

Chris Wahmoff crawled several feet into the 36-inch pipe around 7 a.m. Monday -- also his 35th birthday. The pipe he was in is part of the 6B pipeline replacement effort, which he was protesting, and is located near I-69 and Division Drive.

An earlier report included more of the other protesters and their statement.

The man crawled several feet into the 36-inch pipe around 7 a.m. Monday. The pipe he was is part of the 6B pipeline replacement effort, which the man was protesting, and is located near I-69 and Division Drive.

I hope Wahmoff has a good lawyer. He'll need one.

At least his actions got his cause the attention it deserved. While I'mpessimistic about stopping the northernmost part of the Keystone XL pipeline, I think calling attention to the specific environmental problems caused by the diluted bitumen that is tar sands "oil" is worth doing. Without his illegal but principled action, the other protesters, including the woman who claims that the 2010 spill from the Enbridge pipeline harmed her health, would not have been covered by WOOD-TV. I wish it weren't so--I don't advocate breaking the law in any protest--but I have to admit, it did work, at least for one day.

There are limits on how effective the protest was, though. Right now, the only news outlets that have covered the story outside of Michigan are Huffington Post and UPI. It deserves a wider audience. Here's to hoping that this entry boosts the signal.